£36 Nurvo Android HDMI PC dongle

The Raspberry Pi was an instant success because it was very cheap, open and could connect to any recently-built television. If you want to get the same technology but in a tidier package, check out the Nurvo HDMI TV Stick which costs £36 at Dabs via eBay and comes with 35 Nectar points and free delivery.

The device looks like a USB flash drive but instead connect to the HDMI port of a television (or computer monitor) and converts the latter into a full-fledge Smart TV powered by Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich which means a full access to Google Play.

The Nurvo HDMI PC Dongle is powered by a Telechips TCC89252 processor which is a single core Cortex A5 model clocked at 1GHz. It has 512MB of RAM, 4GB onboard storage, a microSD card slot, Wi-Fi, a USB port, is compatible with DLNA. You should be able to connect a wireless keyboard and mouse combo to make the most out of it.

HDMI dongles are a relatively recent trend and there are already dual and quad core models on the market with some featuring multiple ports for improved connectivity and additional features like microphones.